


In Which Your Views Change Dramatically

by officiallydumb



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Multi, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-23 16:56:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6123225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/officiallydumb/pseuds/officiallydumb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monsters were dangerous. Even if there hadn't been an attack so far, the possibility was there. You planned to stay as far away from them as possible; your life was difficult enough as it was.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they keep popping up unexpectedly. How are you supposed to keep your life peaceful when they keep insisting they're your friends?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Baby It's Cold Outside

It’s been around six months since the barrier fell and the monsters came out of the underground to join the human world. Some people are completely accepting, compassionate after hearing the monsters’ terrible story of imprisonment. Some people are vehemently against the monsters rejoining society, believing them dangerous and uncontrollable. Most, however, are merely nervous about the possibility of conflict between the two species. After all, your inability to get along is what caused the separation in the first place.

They say the human that broke the barrier in the first place is serving as an ambassador between you all. But many people claim that the big hero is actually just some kid; if that’s true, how could they be expected to keep everyone calm?

That’s just everyone else’s worries though. You keep your nose to the ground and you figure everything will be all right. As long as you stay out of everyone’s way, trouble tends to avoid you.

Unfortunately, working in public service tends to force you into interacting with those you wouldn’t normally. On a lazy Tuesday night, you spoke to a monster for the first time while working your shift at Goods ‘n Go.

There were only a few people in the store when he walked in, surprising both your coworker and yourself. You’d never seen a monster shop for food before. You’d rarely seen a monster in the same building as humans. You had so far stayed pretty segregated in every way. Monsters lived in a separate part of town, with their own stores and restaurants from humans. It was easier that way.

The other customers’ reactions ranged from curious to wary to frightened. One older gentleman left immediately, abandoning his shopping cart in the middle of the produce aisle. The others seemed content to watch the situation and continued on with their shopping.

The monster was a skeleton, tall, with a bright red scarf and possibly the smallest pair of shorts you had ever seen.

_Not like it matters when you don’t have actual legs._

Unfortunately, this monster wasn’t content to quietly find his groceries and leave. He ambled around the store quickly, becoming louder and more frantic as it became apparent that he could not find what he was looking for. As the disturbance continued, your coworker, Jerry, whispered to you. “Go help him before he runs everyone off!”

“Literally, no one is leaving.”

“Well, go help him before he leaves us a bad review! I thought you were number one in customer service last month!”

“We’re not allowed to get it twice in a row, why should I try!?!”

“Because I’m on register tonight and you’re supposed to be working the floor.”

Jerry was an ass.

Either way, you braced yourself and walk into aisle 5, where the skeleton was examining a box of bran flakes quite intently. “Excuse me sir, is there anything that I could help you find?”

He turned quickly toward you. “YES HUMAN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM LOOKING FOR SPAGHETTI TO SHARE WITH MY FRIENDS!”

“Um, were you looking for spaghetti ingredients or just the canned stuff?”

“CANNED??? HOW WOULD YOU FIT THE NOODLES IN CANS??? THEY ARE TOO LONG TO FIT INTO SOMETHING THAT SHORT!!”

You wince; though he isn’t shouting, the skeleton’s voice is incredibly loud and excited. “Well that’s because canned spaghetti comes pre-cooked. The noodles are already soft, so they fit in the can easily.”

“ALREADY COOKED?? HOW IS THAT ANY FUN? COOKING IS THE BEST PART OF SPAGHETTI!! SHOW ME THIS ‘CANNED SPAGHETTI’ IMMEDIATELY!”

“Okay sir, follow me this way please.” You say, crossing your fingers that you can get this guy out of the store quickly.

“WHY, THANK YOU HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL TAKE YOU UP ON YOUR OFFER!”

He follows you, uncomfortably close, across the store aisles filled with colorfully labeled food to the canned goods. He looms over your not quite 5 foot frame. Once, you look behind yourself and catch him grinning at you expectantly.

_Freak._

“Okay, so the spaghetti should be mixed in somewhere over here…” You crouch down, looking among the cans before grabbing a few. “These are the brands that we carry.”

He grabs two of them from my hands, before looking at you patronizingly. “SILLY HUMAN, THAT IS NOT SPAGHETTI! WHERE ARE THE NOODLES?! I KNOW THAT BEING AROUND ME MAY HAVE MADE YOU NERVOUS, BUT THERE IS NO REASON TO BE! FEAR NOT, I WILL NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT YOUR MISTAKE!”

“Sir these are still spaghetti noodles. They’re just in the shape of letters instead of being straight.”

“YOU CAN MAKE SHAPES OUT OF THE NOODLES????”

You feel a headache encroaching. Apparently this guy only had one volume: loud as hell. “Yep, I think it’s their selling point in fact. How about you buy a can to try?”

He (thankfully) agrees with you, and finally makes his way to checkout with three different brands of canned spaghetti, babbling the entire way. Of course, Jerry has left the counter, forcing you to continue listening politely to the monster’s plans for the food. The skeleton tells you about his anticipation for his friend Undyne’s reaction to letter shaped spaghetti, and, after several minutes detailing the his plans to introduce this new kind of spaghetti to her, finally leaves while yelling “I WILL RETURN TO INFORM YOU HOW MUCH WE ENJOY THE SPAGHETTI HUMAN!”

Well shit. Out of all the possibilities you’d considered for talking with the monster, it returning was not an option you’d considered. Oh well, you would have to deal with that another day. For right now, there were shelves to stock.

 

 

 

After your shift was finally over, you returned to your studio apartment. It was actually just a renovated motel, but rent was cheap and you couldn’t afford to be too picky when you could barely afford to pay tuition and rent. Luckily, you didn’t have to work your second job tonight. You were already exhausted and couldn’t imagine having to be on your feet any longer.

You throw your wallet down onto your bed, making your way to your cabinets to pull out a package of instant oatmeal. Not the best tasting thing to eat, but it was cheap and filling. Pouring it into the bowl, you go over your to-do list in your head. You had a quiz for your Spanish class tomorrow that you needed to review for, and tomorrow was going to have to be laundry day, since you’d run out of clean underwear. You’d noticed it was time for another oil change for your car as well, though you might have to put it off depending on what your bank account looks like.

The ding of the microwave snaps you out of your thoughts, and you stir it while turning on the television. TV wasn’t really your schtick, but it made for good background noise while you studied. You clicked through channels until you came to a talk show with one of the more well-known monsters on as a guest. Mettaton seemed to be a little easier for most people to deal with, since robotics were common anyway, and he looked more human than most of the other monsters.

You decide the talk show would work as well as anything, and your encounter with the skeleton today had left you a little curious. Generally, monsters were a topic you just avoided. Life was difficult enough without getting into arguments with other people about how dangerous they might be or what should be done with the new population.

Personally as long as they stayed away from you, you didn’t care what they did. Seeing one so up close today had been unsettling, though. After all, you never knew if a creature like that would get out of control and attack you. You had no way to defend yourself against their mysterious magic.

The pink and black robot commanded the eyes of the viewers. Mettaton was tall and voluptuous, and his confidence and charisma were hard to ignore. You couldn’t imagine what meeting him in person would be like. He seemed like he would be difficult to deal with.

“So, Mettaton, you’ve said in interviews before that you’d always dreamed of performing for humans on the surface. Could you tell us what started this dream and how you feel now that you have all these human fans?”

“Of course darling, I’ve always wanted to perform for humans. Why wouldn’t I want more fans? Besides, I’ve been captivated with humanity for quite some time, ever since a friend of mine showed me some of your old shows. You are all so fascinating, and I can’t wait to get to know all of my new fans better!”

He punctuated his point by blowing a kiss at the crowd, who immediately cheered. Ridiculous. Even if he was more normal looking than the other monsters, it didn’t change who he was. Or what he was capable of. How could anyone forget that?

You returned to studying, confident that the talk show wasn’t worth your attention. Conjugating verbs was too difficult to half-ass anyway. Hours had passed before you realized it, and you realized, yawning, that it had gotten pretty late. You switched off the TV and crawled into your bed, pulling your worn comforter over yourself. You’d long since kicked the sheet off the bed. Sleep came quickly.

 

 

 

Mornings sucked. Waking up had always been difficult for you, but with the help of a little coffee and a few alarms, you’d managed to get used to it, though you never learned to enjoy it. Now sleeping in seemed like a complete waste of time, something you had very little of to begin with.

You showered quickly (last month’s water bill had been higher than you wanted it) and towel dried your hair as best you could. Flipping the TV back on, you glanced at headlines as you poured yourself a small bowl of cereal.

“How can we trust these creatures? They’ve already proven they can use some kind of energy we can’t. Even if some of them are peaceful, they could all cause massive damage if they wanted to. Do we really want to risk our safety, our family’s lives on this chance??”

All the arguments faded into the background as you finished your cereal and started blow-drying your hair. After fixing it into a tight braid, you dressed in a sweat pants, tennis shoes, a light jacket, and a long sleeve t-shirt. Your shift didn’t start until 12:00 today, so you had plenty of time to go for a peaceful morning run and then do your errands for the day.

It was chilly outside, but you warmed up quickly once you started your jog. As much as you hated exercise, some of your best thinking time was when you were running around town. The steady pace and the sound of your favorite music through your earbuds was incredibly therapeutic.

Unfortunately, your mind quickly wandered back to thoughts of the skeleton monster you’d met yesterday; like the woman on the news had said, though he seemed peaceful, there was no telling how much damage he could do if incited. How could people be expected to get along with something that could hurt them so easily? Maybe your dad was right, investing in a gun for protection didn’t seem like a bad idea. Even just taking a self defense class wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The voice of your phone interrupted your song to tell you that’d run a full mile so far. You decided to go ahead and turn back home, two miles seemed like an adequate distance for the morning. Circling around, though, you noticed a kid on the bench on the sidewalk. By their dark hair and skin, you guessed they were Latino and around 10 or 11 years old. Too young to be on their own, and you didn’t see any adults around.

“Hey kid, are your parents around? You shouldn’t be out here alone like this.”

They looked up, startled, before they spoke. You had to listen closely, since their voice was pretty low.

“My friend will be back soon. I, uh, hurt my ankle when we were playing around so I can’t walk home now.”

Well hell. You couldn’t just leave the kid by themselves. They weren’t even wearing a jacket, just a thin purple shirt and well-worn blue jeans. Their arms were wrapped around their torso tightly, and they shivered ever so often. You let out a silent, exasperated sigh; did people not know how to take care of their kids anymore?

“Is it alright if I wait with you a while? My run took a lot out of me; I need to rest and cool down for a minute.”

They nodded, wary but friendly. You slipped your jacket off, forcing yourself not to flinch as a particularly strong gust of wind bit at you.

“Want my jacket? It’s a little sweaty but it’ll be warmer than your shirt,” They hesitate, looking at your own t-shirt, “I’m way too hot right now to wear it anyway.” Seeming convinced, they wasted no time in slipping their arms through the sleeves and zipping your jacket up straight to their chin. You wished you’d brought a heavier coat, preferably with a hood, but you supposed the one you had was better than nothing.

“I guess I never introduced myself. My name is Dee, it’s nice to meet you.” You state, holding out your hand.

The kid smiles before grabbing your hand with theirs. “I’m Frisk.”

“That’s a pretty cool name. I don’t think I’ve met anyone named Frisk before. How’d your parents come up with it?”

They curled in on themselves a little before shrugging. You decided not to bother them anymore before you made them uncomfortable. The wooden bench remained cold underneath your legs and as another gust of wind blew past you, you mentally rehearsed the verbal thrashing you wanted to give the kid’s parents.

Ten minutes of staring later and you were ready to kill whoever was responsible for the child. They must’ve picked up on your building fury, as they started to unzip your jacket and hopped off the bench, wobbling on one leg before carefully placing the other one on the ground, wincing slightly.

“I think I’ll just try going home on my own. They may be lost. My mom isn’t used to the area, and my friend isn’t either. They probably have no idea where I am, and I didn’t bring my cell phone so they can’t call me. It’s my fault, you can have your jacket back and I’ll walk home. Thanks for waiting with me, though. I’m sorry for making you cold.” Their voice wobbled dangerously as they spoke.

You placed your hand carefully on theirs, stopping them from unzipping your jacket any further. “Hey, this isn’t your fault Frisk. I didn’t mind waiting with you.” You paused, unsure how to continue without scaring them, “Look, I’ll be honest, I’m sure you can take care of yourself but I’m worried about you trying to walk home with your ankle hurt. I’d be happy to carry you back to your house if you want.”

“Like… a piggy back ride?”

_Okay, I thought they might be a little old for stuff like that but alright._

“Yeah, a piggy back ride. You can just tell me where you live and I’ll deliver you right to the front door! Dee’s delivery service!”

They giggled before nodding to you. Thank goodness. You really didn’t want to leave the kid on their own to walk home. You crouched down and they laced their arms around your neck and wrapped their legs around your waist. You slipped your arms under their knees and stood up carefully. Oof. Frisk was heavier than you thought. Oh well. It was too late for second thoughts now.

With Frisk guiding you, you both headed off towards their house. You hoped it wasn’t too far away. However, as you slowly made your way out of town, you began to realize something. The buildings shifted from standard concrete and brick to old, run down places that had gone out of business years ago. Broken glass littered the sidewalks and you began to look around carefully for any danger. You hadn’t considered the possibility that Frisk lived in a bad part of town. Immediately feeling terrible for judging her parents for not picking her up earlier, you began to consider that maybe Frisk had lied out of embarrassment before. They may not have anyone to come get them.

You waited for Frisk to tell you to stop at some of the apartments, but they tell you to keep walking instead. You walk past a barbershop with peeling paint and boarded up doors and they instruct you to take a left. Slowly, you make your way out of the old buildings and into brand new construction. As you begin to get your bearings, you realize something.

You were no longer in the human part of town.

Stilling your slight tremble at the realization, you continue forward. Maybe Frisk was the child of those new-age parents, the ones who thought it was fashionable to live among monsters instead of people. Poor kid. You bet it was awful not having any other children to play with nearby. Maybe that was why they were so far from home.

“We’re here! My house is the one with the red mailbox!”

You walked up the stairs onto the front porch of a moderately large house. Like all the buildings in this side of town, the house was build out of wood, like a log cabin, instead of bricks or stone. You could see a warm glow coming from the window. You rapped sharply on the door, hefting Frisk up slightly since they seemed to have no intention of letting go now that you were here.

The door opened to reveal a giant goatwoman, who immediately exclaimed “Frisk, who is your new friend? Please come inside, dear, it’s too cold to stand outside and talk!” and began to usher you both inside.

Out of all the possibilities for Frisk’s parents, this was by far the worst.

           

 

 

 

  

 

 


	2. The Rockafeller Skank

If someone had told you yesterday that you’d be spending you Wednesday morning eating breakfast with some human kid and their adoptive monster mom, you would have laughed in their face.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what had ended up happening.

Toriel, as she had quickly introduced herself as, had ushered you in and offered you breakfast before you could even blink. Caught off guard, you couldn’t think of an excuse to leave quickly enough and ended up agreeing to stay. Now, you sat at the table with Frisk, watching as Toriel added more and more pancakes to the already impressive stack on the table.

“I can’t thank you enough for bringing Frisk home. I’m not familiar with much of the city, and without their phone I would have had no idea where they were! I had just gotten off the phone with Monster Kid’s parents when you showed up, thank goodness! The poor child was worried sick about you, Frisk; apparently he got lost as well on his way home, and was scared you’d been by yourself the whole time! Thank you so much for bringing her all this way Dee!”

“It was no problem ma’am. I couldn’t leave a kid all by themselves outside.”

“We are very glad you passed through,” she replied with a smile. “Now let me take a look at your ankle Frisk. Now, don’t pout at me. It won’t hurt a bit.”

You stared while stuffing a syrup-covered piece of pancake into your mouth. Toriel leaned beside Frisk’s chair while they ate, gently grasping their ankle and running her hand over it gently. Suddenly, her hand lit up with a bright green flame. You immediately choked, nearly toppling out of your chair as you tried to STOP HER WHAT WAS SHE WAS DOING—

But Frisk didn’t react at all to the attack, only looking at you in concern as you hacked up pieces of your breakfast into you hand.

_Real smooth._

Amazingly, neither of them seemed to realize the reason for your outburst; Toriel quickly fetched you some water to wash down what you hadn’t coughed up and advised you to eat slower.

“Frisk, I’ll work on a pie that will fix that ankle completely, but for right now, try to stay off of it as much as possible please? That means no more running around the city today.”

Frisk seemed put out, but nodded anyway. You stuffed more pancake in your mouth while you peered around the kitchen.

The fridge was an old model, and covered in drawings and school papers, presumably from Frisk. The stove looked old as well, but well kept. Various pots and pans hung from hooks on the walls, and none of the utensils really matched. Knick-knacks and baubles covered every surface that didn’t already have dishes on it. Mismatched china dishes were on display in a glass cupboard in the corner. While everything in the kitchen was old or worn out, it was also very clean, and the wooden countertops gave a much warmer feeling to the room than the marble you were used to seeing in houses nowadays.

The smell of pancakes and syrup permeated every part of the small room as well. Overall, it would have been a very relaxing room to eat breakfast in, if there hadn’t been a giant goat at the table watching you eat.

“Have as much as you like dear. I always seem to cook more than Frisk and I can eat. It’s nice to have someone else here as well.”

She shifted the plate closer to you so you could reach for your second helping easier.

Frisk let out a soft “Oh” and you turn your head to see a rather large, soaked piece of pancake fall off their fork and onto your jacket, which they’d never taken off.

They turned towards you, apologizing over and over before you stopped them. “It’s fine, Frisk. I needed to wash it anyway. You just gave me the extra push I needed.” You winked at them, and they giggled and winked back.

You didn’t notice Toriel watching the exchange with growing warmth towards you. “Nonsense, dear. I’ll wash your jacket for you here.”

“Um, I’m sorry, but I need to leave soon. I have to go to work pretty soon.”

_I’d rather not spend any more time her_ e _than I have to._

“How about you come back for dinner tomorrow night, then? You can pick your jacket up and I can feed you a proper meal as thanks for bringing Frisk back home.”

“Oh, there’s really no need for tha-“

“Nonsense. Frisk and I would love to see you again, and you deserve a nice dinner after all the trouble you went through to bring them back. Do you have any other plans for that night? If so, we can choose another.”

You sighed internally, defeated.

_Damn this monster was pushy._

“No, no, tomorrow night is fine. What time should I come over?”

“Seven should work just fine, dear. Now, I hate to send you home without a jacket in this cold, but I don’t think anything Frisk or I have would fit you. Hmmm…”

“Mom, what about Sans’ jacket? He left one here last time he came over.”

“That’s perfect! Could you go grab it from the living room?”

You watched Frisk hop off their chair and make their way into the next room. As soon as they were out of earshot, Toriel began speaking again.

“I’m sure you’re tired of me thanking you so much, but I really am grateful that you brought Frisk home. It’s somewhat… difficult for me to explore the town, given what I look like. I can’t keep Frisk cooped up here with me all the time, though. They hate not being able to explore on their own.”

_That’s why humans and monsters should raise their own kind. You can’t even look after your kid right because of what you are._

You nodded understandingly. She smiled at you again, and opened her mouth to speak before closing it again as Frisk walked back in and handed you a blue jacket that smelled strongly of ketchup.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t washed it yet but I promise it’s not too dirty. At least it doesn’t have syrup on it!” she exclaimed, chuckling.

You took the jacket from Frisk and slid your arms through the sleeves, praying you’d grow numb to the smell soon.

“I have to go, but I’ll see you both tomorrow night!”

Frisk stopped you on your way to the door, holding their arms out for a hug. They were so damn cute; at least there would be one good thing about coming back to for dinner tomorrow night.

Toriel stood behind the both of you, beaming. You darted out the door after a quick goodbye, trying to avoid a hug from her as well.

As you walked down the street back towards your apartment to change before work, you wondered what it would be like to hug the goat monster, and shivered as you imagined those strong arms crushing you easily, cracking ribs without a second thought. You imagined how your blood would look on her fur. You imagined how much easier it would be for her to hurt Frisk, even if it was only an accident.

 

 

Work at the grocery store passed by even slower than usual. Thankfully, it was Jerry’s day off, so at least you didn’t have to deal with his shit for once.

The store you worked in was part of a small chain only located in the state. You’d known the manager of this particular branch since you were a kid, which was why they were kind enough to hire a kid with no work experience when your family first ran into major financial problems. You’d promised yourself you’d be one of their best employees to prove that hiring you wasn’t a mistake; now that you’d been working here for a year and a half, it was safe to say that you’d been true to your word.

One of your favorite things about the store was the peacefulness of it; sure, you had an occasional bad customer, but for the most part the locals knew you and were pretty polite. Small talk with the regulars kept your mind occupied in between rushes of customers. If nothing else, you could walk around reorganizing shelves, as long as you kept an eye on the register.

Of course, with nothing else to think about, your mind wandered back to the monsters you’d met over the past couple days. You hadn’t even stopped to consider whether Toriel’s pancakes were safe to eat (food wasn’t something you turned down easily), though you hadn’t suffered any ill effects so far. It had been a long time since you’d eaten a home-cooked meal. Your parents had never been into cooking, and you’d long since run out of time and energy to eat anything besides instant food.

You wondered what Toriel would cook tomorrow night.

You also wondered why Frisk was living with a monster. Surely that was against child protection laws, to let a kid live with something that could snap them in half without a second thought. Did social services even know that Frisk was living with a monster?

Maybe Frisk was a kidnap victim, stolen from her real, human parents who were looking for her frantically now. After all, they weren’t in school on a weekday. Maybe you’d ruined their one attempt at an escape by bringing them back to Toriel. Maybe Toriel planned to kill you when you came to dinner tomorrow night to silence you. Your thoughts grew more and more paranoid as you paced through the aisles of the store.

Worrying had always been one of your specialties.

The entrance of a customer you knew personally finally interrupted your spiel. Glad for the distraction, you walked them through the store, making small talk.

“How are you today Mrs. Johnston?”

“I’m doing well Dee. How is your mother?”

“Oh she’s fine. Just working too hard as always. You know how she is.”

“She’s done her absolute best for you, I hope you know that. She raised a wonderful young lady. Everyone in this town has high hopes for you.”

“Yes ma’am, thank you.”

Mrs. Johnston was an older lady who’d lived down the road from you most of your life. Every year her hair seemed to grow whiter and fluffier.

You followed her around the store, bending down or stretching to reach higher items so she didn’t strain herself. Finally, her cart was fully loaded up. You rolled it to the cash register and began to scan and bag everything, listening to her stories about her grandchildren.

Since there weren’t any other customers in the store, you decided to carry her groceries out for her and load them in her car. She thanked you profusely, telling you what a kind young lady you were.

As you finally turned away to walk back into the store, she gently grabbed your arm and pulled you close, whispering; “Now I know it’s none of this old woman’s business, but how is your sister doing?”

Your smile froze on your face. “She’s fine. Still living with Mom and Dad, sorting things out. Thank you for your concern.”

“No problem, dear.” She smiled, patting your arm, “I know this whole situation has been hard, and there are a lot of gossips in this town who love to put other folks down.”

_You’re one of the worst ones._

You forced yourself to smile wider. “Yes ma’am. You have a great day! Come back soon!”

As her car rolled out of the parking lot, you dropped your smile like it had personally offended you. You checked you watch, and sighed when you realized it was only 3:00. Maybe no one would come in for a while. You needed some time to put your customer service face back on.

 

 

Your second job as a bartender was less wholesome than you day gig as a cashier, but you had to pay the bills somehow.

It was amazing how people didn’t recognize you in the dark light of the bar, hair down and face covered in thick makeup. Your boss was a nice enough guy who kept to himself and didn’t care whom you were, and the bar was far enough outside of town that not many patrons knew you either way.

The less you gave people to talk about, the better.

Wednesday was karaoke night, which meant you and the other guy who worked there (you thought his name was Sam) snuck shots in between the worst singers. You would honestly rather watch another couple make out on the bar in front of you-

_They knocked over all the drinks!_

-than listen to two more hours of this god-awful singing. Seriously, even drunk people should know better than to do this to the bar patrons.

Tips were terrible on karaoke nights too. It tended to attract adults who went out for a few after work rather than the drunk college boys who didn’t usually realize just how much they were giving you. The best tips you got on nights like these were from old perverts who tried to rub your ass when you walked by.

You turned to watch the pool game going on in the corner. One of the older women wasn’t half bad, but her husband and the other couple were just plain terrible. You watched one of the men line up an easy shot only to hit too far to the right and knock the other team’s ball in.

“Jack and coke, sweetheart.”

“Coming right up. That’ll be $8.”

At least none of the older patrons ever asked for complicated drinks. College kids liked to experiment with their shit too much, and never understood that it took a few minutes to mix drinks with so many different liquors in it.

After you handed him his drink, you boss motioned for you to go take your break. You drifted outside, even though it was freezing at this time of night and your tight black pants and low-cut shirt weren’t exactly warm. Standing in the alley between the bar and the old restaurant beside it, you gazed up at the stars and wondered what your mom would think of you if she saw you dressed like this.

Thoughts like that were the only thing that prevented you from smoking. You didn’t think you could handle her disappointment if she found out. At least bartending actually had a good motivation behind it. Smoking was just another bad habit that you wanted to add to your growing collection, but couldn’t muster up the guts to try. Besides, cigarettes were expensive.

Suddenly, you heard a rustling from behind the garbage cans. You tense up, ready to bolt from whatever creep was hiding out here, when something flies at your face.

“hOI!!!! I’m tEMMIE!”

You let out a screech as it latches on to your head and you fall backwards onto the ground. For something so small, it sure packs a punch. Some of its claws dig into your skin, while it uses one paw to slap wildly at your face.

“CUTE human!! So hUNGRY! feEd tEM!”

You manage to dislodge it from your scalp, but not before it takes a parting swipe at your face making you throw the little asshole towards the road outside the alley. All you can make out in the darkness is a small body with pointed ears on top of its head before you see a flash of blue and it disappears.

When you finally gather your wits enough to go back into the bar, your boss takes one look at you, scratched and messy, and tells you to go home after mocking you about not being able to handle a wild cat.

You don’t bother telling him the car could talk, opting to get out of the bar as quickly as possible instead. Your racing thoughts make your normally long walk home seem short, and you’re in your apartment before you realize it.

As you scrub your face with soap in front of your porcelain bathroom sink, gritting your teeth at the sting on your new scratches, you begin to realize what attacked you must’ve been a monster. After all, normal animals didn’t speak. What the hell had you done to incite it? And why was the cat-thing on the human side of town anyway?

Your thoughts drift back towards tomorrow night’s dinner again. Tonight had just proven your point. Beasts couldn’t be trusted. Though Toriel seemed smarter than the creature that’d attacked you tonight, they were still ultimately the same. Who knows what the cat would have done to your face if you hadn’t pried them off?

You crawl into bed, exhausted, but your worries keep you awake for several more hours before you finally manage to fall into a shallow, restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'I should upload the next chapter during the most likely time that people would be reading fan fiction,' I think to myself.
> 
> 'Ah, 1:20 a.m. Perfect.'
> 
> In other news, the Temmie scene was definitely inspired by the Koromon vs. Tai scene in the Digimon movie. Thus, the song for the chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> After reading numerous Sans/Reader fics, I finally decided to contribute my own attempt at it. I wanted to try something different than the usual super nice and monster-accepting protagonist, so Dee is kind of an jerk. I also went ahead and gave her a name because I think filling in a blank every time someone tries to talk to her is kind of annoying. Feel free to replace it with your own name.
> 
> Also, even though this is a romance between the reader and Sans, I fully intend to explore many of the Undertale characters in this story, as they are all precious and interesting and deserve it. So please keep in mind that Sans will not always be at the forefront of Dee's mind or at the forefront of the story.


End file.
